I looked at my love for Haruhi Suzumiya, again and I still can't figure out why I like it so much. I know why I like it, but I don't know why.

So...

We have a foreshadowing character (Yuki). In Melancholy, Yuki reads the Fall of Hyperion, with a god-like character that can travel back in time, a data entity which humans can't find, human/robot crosses. The foreshadowing is where the data entity, the TechnoCore comes in. We have 3 factions, the Stables, Volatiles and Ultimates. The Stables don't want to disturb the status quo, preferring to observe. The Volatiles just want to destroy the humans. And the Ultimates won't give a damn unless it affect their project of creating and maintaining their God, the Ultimate Intelligence. Later on, Yuki, the Stable, has to rescue Kyon from Ryoko, who just wants to kill him to force a disturbance to the status quo.

Nice foreshadowing, Nagaru. And good job as hiding the plot device as another device, specifically using it to carry a bookmark that tells Kyon to meet Yuki so that she can tell him about her true identity.

We have an average-looking main character, who can't decide who to pick, as there are 3 good-looking girls surrounding him. One's an alien, who embodies the Meganekko and Emotionless Girl personality. And a bit of Pettanko, in a way. Another is very well-endowed, and is a time-traveller who is a bit ditzy, but her future self controls everything behind-the-scenes. And the last is a long-legged Tsundere reality-warper who starts off without a nudity taboo.

Then we have evidence of the alien falling in love with him as possessively as an emotionless girl can. Kyon has a crush on the time traveller, who can't reciprocate. And there's concrete proof that Kyon and the Reality Warper love each other, but refuse to admit it.

Of course, who can forget the awesome music from the anime. The Cultural Festival episode has 2 of the best songs in the anime. Not to mention the OSTs. We have the Kamadouma battle music, Unzari Da, Kouchou Kouchou and Itsumo no fuukei. And since we have a totally Genre Savvy jerkass Jerk With A Heart Of Gold as the leader of the SOS Brigade, we can have practically any song turned into an Haruhi AMV. For example, Can't Change Me by Chris Cornell.

What else?

Kyon is a horrible narrator. He hilariously deifies Mikuru, and snarks a lot. He hates the fact that he's in the SOS Brigade, and thinks Haruhi's a bitch. Yet, he returns for more, everyday, without fail, and willingly goes back to the old world even in a world without Haruhi's SOS Brigade. Kyon often focuses on stuff he shouldn't. He keeps dropping references everywhere, to things as varied as Harry Potter to Japanese history and various mythological stories.

I guess I feel a sense of kinship. We both hate homework, know way more than other people, and have been caught in various embarrassing situation that can only be summed up as situations where the only viable response is "This is not what it looks like." My normal method of writing is extremely simliar to his monologue style (stream-of-consciousness), where I just keep going and going, dropping references here and there while looking at things through the eyes of a jaded cynic.

I want to be like Yuki too, thus explaining the Kyon/Yuki ship I was a fan of. She can freaking manipulate data. Insert sped up, read backwards SQL queries. She reads a lot, kinda like me when I was younger. That too, explains a large chunk of my general knowledge. When I was younger, I also was extremely quiet. I knew I would never fit in, and accepted it.

Haruhi also struck a chord with me. She was a reality-warper, something I wanted to be. It's just a cool power. Haruhi also has a surprisingly carefree attitude, and keeps believing that aliens, time travellers and ESPers exist, despite her basic personality of being a hardcore realist. She's also oblivious to other people, as my dad has pointed out in me constantly. Haruhi also has a cool way of relieving her stress and negative emotions, by creating alternate dimensions. That, too is cool. Except the possibility of ending the world.

Ah, who cares.

At least I won't be the only one left on Earth after that.

But I digress. Another side of Haruhi I love is the melancholy aspect of her personality, which strikes me the most. No prizes to anybody who can guess why. Finally, it's her talent for...talents. Anything she does, she can be successful. Any sporting CCA she joined during the period where she joined every single club begged her to stay. When she stood in for ENOZ in the Cultural Festival, she memorized the lyrics after listening to the songs thrice and made simpler chords for herself in an hour. Yuki just asked her boss for help, kinda like the Matrix. Hell, Haruhi could become Prime Minister of Japan and fix the economy and aging population issue easily, given her talents and powers. And the UN could use some of her Genki-ness.

Mikuru and Itsuki, on the other hand aren't, so I'd put them on a bus if I'm writing Haruhi fanfics. Or I'll just put them on the sidelines.

And the innuendos. It's stated on TvTropes that Haruhi has said that she swings both ways. Yeah, there's tons of proof, mostly involving Haruhi's gleeful molestation of Mikuru, but I doubt she stated it anywhere. I could look for it, but I've got 8 books currently, with a total of 2000+ pages. Not very easy to search all that, but I'll try. We also have all the Not What It Looks Like moments, like when Haruhi wrestles Kyon to get Nakagawa's confession. The 2 moves she uses looks wrong, given her reputation, and her headstrong nature.

Update: Ah... let's see what we have here after the 1st book.

Melancholy - "Who asked you to be so cute? Man, even a girl like me can't resist doing this to you now!" - Haruhi.

Mabel, Still can't figure out why she likes Haruhi so damn much, but slightly closer after this.